Why Muslim vote didn’t count much in Modi’s UP
Traditional analysis of Muslims voting en bloc has been washed away
At the end, the much-discussed Muslim votes proved to be a myth in Uttar Pradesh polls with the BJP, which didn’t field a single Muslim candidate, winning most of the seats.
Experts are divided on the finer points-- whether Muslim vote was a myth or the results meant an electoral invalidation of the Muslims who account for 19.3 per cent of population and could have played a key role in 73 constituencies where they form over 30% of the electorate.
In what is certainly a Modiwave, traditional analysis of Muslims voting en bloc seems to have got washed away in country’s most populous state, sweeping aside possible winning formula such as Yadav-Muslim or Dalit-Muslim voting together.
In Deoband constituency, home to the Dar-ul-Uloom, the most respected Islamic seminary in India and rated next to only Al Azhar in Cairo, BJP candidate Brijesh won. Both BSP and SP had filed Muslim candidates from here, and in the last election BSP had won the seat.
In 42 Muslim majority seats that HT has analysed Bharatiya Janata Party has won 31, Samajwadi Party 10 and Bahujan Samaj Party one. In 2012 the BJP had won eight and five in 2007.
So is the Muslim vote a myth? “Yes, it is. I have been saying it for long. Average Indian Muslims vote the way any average Indian vote. They are driven mostly by the local considerations,” Kamal Faruqui, member All India Muslim Personal Law Board told HT.
In his victory press briefing, BJP president Amit Shah said “a voter is a voter, there is nothing like a Hindu voter or a Muslim voter.”
Still there are those who believe, BJP did invalidate the Muslim votes in a smart way.
“The victory of BJP signals triumph of hate and it is not a good news for Indian democracy. The BJP negated Muslim votes through smart social engineering and polarisation,” said Zafarul Islam Khan former president of All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the apex forum of Muslim organizations and institutions in the country.